Monday, January 31, 2011

Los Angeles, CA - On Friday, Fernanda Romero, 28, pleaded guilty to lying to immigration officials about her husband's close relationship with her mother. Romero had been charged with marriage sham in order to get permanent residency and remain in the U.S.
Her husband, Kent Ross, 28, was also charged in the sham marriage case. He worked at a pizza place and entered into a marriage agreement with Romero.
Romero had told immigration officials that her mother and Ross had a close relationship and spent lots of time together. Which in fact, officials discovered they only saw each other twice.
She had told investigators, that both Ross and her were living together. Officials reported they actually lived apart and dated other people. Romero's live in boyfriend reported the marriage sham to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after they separated.
Romero will be sentenced on April 11 by U.S. District Judge Manuel Real and several other charges will be dismissed, according to court records. She was facing, fines, probation and five years in a federal prison. But under the plea agreement, Romero is expected to be deported and won't be able to ever enter the U.S. under the felony conviction.
Ross pleaded guilty to lying as well in immigration forms that he and Romero lived together after they were married in 2005. He has a plea hearing set for Feb. 4.
Federal charges alleged that Romero paid Ross $5,000 in 2005 to marry her, so she could stay in the country.
The ICE investigation found that Romero never lived with Ross as required when she applied for naturalization. Instead, she moved in with Markus Klinko a photographer, her then boyfriend. Romero had recently broke her relationship with Klinko, who inspite informed ICE and provided proof she was in a phony arranged marriage with Ross.

Caledonia, Wisconsin - On Sunday, federal agents walked into the 7 Mile Fair in Caledonia, located on the 7 Mile Road exit and I-94 and executed search warrants for the suspected pirated Super Bowl XLV and Green Bay Packers merchandise. They were able to confiscate counterfeit material from three different booths inside the market place, but the booths were allow to stay opened, according to Scott Niles, CEO of 7 Mile Fair Inc. who operates the bargain fair on the weekends.
More than ten agents took part in the raid. They also took clothing and items labeled Gucci, Ed Hardy and other brand names. At least ten golf cart loads of merchandise was taken before noon, merchants who witnessed the raid reported.
The feds cited the booth operators where the alleged pirated material was found and no arrests were made.
The feds had been targeting the the 7 Mile Fair since last April 2010 as an ongoing investigation when they confiscated merchandise that included thousands of items such as counterfeit sports wear, sports named Nike tennis shoes, t-shirts sport jackets with fake brand names and other items totaling more than $350,000. The weekend fair is known for finding pirated items at a reasonable price and other unusual items, according to bargain seekers at the fair.
The feds haven't released the amount of merchandise and estimated total of the items that were removed from the 7 Mile Fair.
Multiple federal agencies involved in the unexpected raid, were the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). CBP specializes in piracy seizures and is a separate branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to sources.

Joseph Kim

Photo: Cook County Sheriff's Department

Federal authorities are trying to connect the latest counterfeit acquisition of items at the 7 Mile Fair to a major fake sports wear distributor charged in December by Chicago Cook County District Attorney's Office. The Cook County Sheriff's Department arrested Joseph Kim, 27, after an undercover investigation found he was manufacturing and distributing thousands of sweatshirts, T-shirts, jerseys and hats embroidered with counterfeit logos of the Chicago Bears, Blackhawks and other popular brands, Sheriff Thomas J. Dart reported in December.
Kim, of Riverwoods, was charged with possession of more than 2,000 counterfeit items and manufacturing counterfeit items, both felonies. He posted $25,000 bail and was released pending the outcome of the case.
More than $650,000 in counterfeit merchandise and $400,000 in equipment was seized in a raid. Investigators found most of the counterfeit apparel was boxed and ready to be shipped from Kim’s headquarters in the 4500 block of West Fillmore Street in Chicago out to flea markets and small shops across the country.
The seizure is the largest of its kind by the sheriff’s vice unit in recent years. In the three-story warehouse Kim operated, police seized eight embroidery machines, valued at around $50,000 each. Also seized were more than 10,000 items of counterfeit clothing – more than half of which had Chicago Bears and other NFL logos on them. Also among the counterfeit stash were more than 1,000 fraudulent Fox Racing items and hundreds more pieces of merchandise with Harley Davidson, Hurley, Tapout and Nike logos, among others, affixed to them. When the warehouse was raided, eight employees were mass-producing near-replica Bears logos onto cheap winter hats.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Police Vice Unit began investigating Kim in October after receiving information about hundreds of fraudulent T-shirts being sold at a major out-of-state flea market. Kim told investigators he could embroidery nearly any trademark requested and among the items confiscated were computer discs with countless professional and college athletic logos, as well as major clothing brands, Sheriff Dart reported.

The Department of Justice in Wisconsin is seeking information on the whereabouts of major Wisconsin fake ID operator that targeted undocumented immigrants

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 30, 2011

Madison, Wisconsin - The Wisconsin Department of Justice is trying to locate Hugo I. Loyo Cobos, a major Credenciales USA fake ID seller who fled into Mexico after his operation went out of business. Loyo is originally from the State of Veracruz in Mexico and was a member of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad 2006-2008 associated with the Chicago Mexican Consulate.
In early December, State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced that the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) had filed an enforcement action against Credenciales USA, LLC and its owner, Hugo I. Loyo for the marketing and sale of fake international driver's licenses and state identification cards in Milwaukee County. Loyo Cobos sold IDs and International Driving Permits (IDP) for $200-$400 each, the IDP actually cost $10 for translation in associations that are allowed to legally offer them.
According to the DOJ complaint, Credenciales USA, LLC marketed and sold purported “International Driver's Licenses” and Wisconsin “identification cards” to Milwaukee-area undocumented consumers on Spanish language radio stations in La GranD 104.7 FM, news magazines and newspapers like El Semanario de Milwaukee. Loyo had a weekly one hour show in La GranD located in West Allis. The company marketed the cards as valid forms of identification, which they were not. In addition, neither Credenciales USA, LLC nor Loyo are authorized by the government to make or sell official identification cards.
“This company engaged in false and misleading practices in Wisconsin," Van Hollen said, “The Wisconsin Department of Justice joins the Federal Trade Commission in warning consumers to be wary of the sale of fraudulent identification cards. Drivers risk losing money and can even face criminal liability, if attempting to present fraudulent identification cards as valid driver's licenses."
According to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), only two organizations are authorized by the U.S. Department of State to legally issue and sell International Drivers' Licenses or Permits (“IDPs”) to U.S residents and they are the American Automobile Association and the American Automobile Touring Alliance.
The State seeks to have Credenciales USA, LLC and Loyo enjoined from further violations. It also seeks restitution, forfeitures and fines. The case was brought on behalf of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection and is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Nelle R. Rohlich.
Van Hollen in December did not specified, if state criminal charges will be filed against Loyo Cobos.
Today in Wisconsin, other businesses continue to use a similar fake ID. Some businesses in the predominately Hispanic South side have placed window signs advertising AmeraCard ID, which is not a real ID, but is sold as an alternative ID to undocumented immigrants. The AmeraCard is sold as a personal ID and could specify any state a purchaser wants at the MC Multiservices, 1010 S. Cesar E. Chavez Dr. in Milwaukee and their Madison location. MC advertised the novelty fake ID in various publications and a small poster sign is displayed at the store front window. AmeraCard is provided by AmeraCard Enterprises Inc. from Stamford, Ct. Website at http://www.ameracard.com/
Loyo Cobos had sold Credenciales USA identification cards and international driving permits at its former location 3031 W. Lincoln Ave., which is now closed. In 2008, Loyo came under fire from a coalition of businesses, financial institutions, various non-profit organizations, including both Voces de la Frontera and the South Side Organizing Committee for trying to lure unsuspecting victims to buy worthless IDs with the state seal on them. Former State Representative, Pedro Colón from the 8th Assembly District had filed a complaint with the DOJ to investigate Loyo and Credenciales USA.
Loyo Cobos has said, the IDs sold by Credenciales USA were officially recognized by his company and Banco Amex International LLC, which was located in the same building. Loyo Cobos was the Chairman of Banco Amex International, and Mike Contreras was the President, according to business records. Both the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) previously stated, Banco Amex International was not legally registered or authorized to operate as a bank.
In early October 2008, Loyo Cobos had also tried to sell fake Mexican driver licenses in Wsiconsin to Mexican nationals in the U.S. with the help of Jorge Carassco Delgado from Global Search de México, S.A. de C.V. which operated Licencias Mexicanas (Mexican Licenses) in California.
Degaldo and Loyo offered fake Mexican licenses from the states of Veracruz, Aguascalientes, Hildago and Oaxaca for a price ranging between $160.00 and $180.00.
Before Licencias Mexicanas shut down after being exposed for selling fake licenses, their website twww.LicenciasMexicanas dot com on the internet Information stated a combine of more than 40,000 licenses from the previously mentioned Mexican states had been sold in the United States of America averaging a gross total of more than $6 million U.S. dollars in taxable earnings, since it was established. The Mexican licenses were sold without a driving or vision tests in the following states of Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico, Nevada, New Jersey, and Texas, according to Licencias Mexicanas.
The Mexican government confirmed Delgado's Licencias Mexicanas was a bogus operation netting millions of U.S. dollars from undocumented immigrants and cheating the Internel Revenue Service and the U.S. government from reporting taxable earned income by Delgado and his accomplices.

Phoenix, Arizona - On Saturday, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office announced that deputies and a civilian posse operation within days had arrested a total of 124 suspects for various crimes. Within the last 17 hours of the operation, Sheriff Joe Arpaio reported the arrest of 83 suspects, including 68 illegal aliens involved in human trafficking and drug smuggling. The other 15 suspects were U.S. Citizens who were taken into custody for various offenses, drugs and warrants.
Another 56 illegal aliens had been arrested earlier in the month for human trafficking. Arpaio confirmed that deputies siezed a total of 725 pounds of marijuana from illegal aliens. Methaphetamine was also siezed, but no amount was reported.
Since Sheriff Arpaio began to enforce federal and state immigration laws, at least 44,000 illegal aliens have been identified while in jail or taken into custody in Maricopa County and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Friday, January 28, 2011

The groups say the three consuls engaged in intimidation and intended to discredit Mexican organizations.

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 28, 2011

Chicago, Illinois - On Friday, the Hispanic Council (HC) in Hillside and the Casa Mexiquense (CM) from Waukegan announced that they will have a joint press conference on Monday, Jan. 31, beginning at 11:00 a.m. at the HC location, 4100 Madison St. in Hillside. The conference will also be aired live on WNDZ 750 AM Radio in the Chicago metropolitan area. Both the HC and MC are calling for the ouster of three Chicago Mexican Consulate consuls for their active participation to engage in tactics of intimidation and for their role in discrediting numerous community Mexican organizations, under the alleged direction of General Consul Manuel Rodriguez Arriaga. Luis E. Pelayo, Founder and President of the Hispanic Council says, they are requesting the Mexican Secretary of Exterior Relations (SRE) to remove Consuls Joaquín Pastrana, Community Organizing, Ioana Navarrete, Department Head of Protection and Dante Gómez, Social Support Coordinator at the Mexican Consulate in Chicago.
Pelayo says, evidence of their unethical service to the Mexican community will be presented to the media.
Consul Arriaga is expected to be replaced in early March by the newly named Chicago Consul Eduardo Arnal Palomera currently at the Denver, Colorado Mexican Consulate. Palomera's nomination by President Felipe Calderon is still in the process of being approved by the Mexican Congress.
Arriaga who has been at the Chicago Consulate for almost four years was named as the Mexican Ambassador for Peru and will also have to be approved by the Congress. In the last several years, Consul Arriaga has been criticised and accused of deliberately shunning certain community based organzations. Even protests by groups during the Summer leading up to the Bicentennial Celebrations have been staged outside the Mexican Consulate calling for his ouster.
Pelayo indicated that the HC had provided Arriaga with a proposal to implement a 24 hour hotline for Mexican nationals seeking legal advice and other services. The proposal included adding two paralegals and an attorney.
Today, no one answers the phone lines once the Consulate closes for the day. If police try to contact the Consulate after closing hours, when they hold someone that is undocumented to let notify the Consulate, a person can be held and then deported without Consulate representation. "An unanswered call can leave a chlid without their father or mother, this is outrageous," Pelayo stated. The Hispanic Council and Casa Mexiquense have freed more Mexican nationals being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement than the Consulate under Arriaga's direction, according to Pelayo.
The Consulate makes between $5 to $7 million U.S. annually on visas, Mexican legal documents and services to Mexican nationals from Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois.
Currently, the Mexican Consulate is being criticised for not acting or publically condemning the illegal deportations of thousands of Mexican nationals in the Chicago area and the illegal private corporation deportation of quadriplegic patient Quelino Jimenez Ojeda, 23, in December by AeroCare and Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Community activists alleged both the AeroCare and Advocate might have falsified information to acquire Mexican government documents to deport Ojeda to Oaxaca, Mexico without his consent or families authorization. The SRE has launched an investigation into who provided unauthorized government documents to Advocate Christ Medical Center and AeroCare in order to privately deport Ojeda without anyone knowing.

San Diego Union Tribune says it was a security guard that was taken by the Mexican military.

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 28, 2011

San Diego, California - The San Diego Union Tribune reported on January 18, that earlier news reports out of Michoacan, Mexico that a San Diego County Sheriff's employee and a teenage nephew were kidnapped on Jan. 9, in the municipality of Tancítaro by an armed commando during a family gathering wasn't actually a sheriff's worker. Family members had identified the U.S. Citizen as Rogelio Segura Nava, 28, and Joel González Segura, 14, as missing.
The Union Tribune reported, the person was taken by government troops and later released after family members talked to military officials, according to Hugo Rodriguez Mora from the Michoacan Human Rights Commission.
The person taken by government troops was identified by the Union Tribune as Segura Martinez a license security guard in San Diego.
Lt. Dave Brown from the San Diego County Sheriff's office told the Union Tribune that no person with either name works for the sheriff's department.
The Attorney General's Office in Mexico said that five other men were taken into custody in the same party and that six assault rifles, five hand guns and bullet proof vests had been confiscated by the military, according to the Union Tribune.

State prosecutor seeking the death penalty in double homicide that left a 9-year-old girl dead

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 28, 2011

Tucson, Arizona - The murder trial of Shawna Forde, 43, the self proclaimed leader of the Minuteman American Defense in Arizona is on trial for the May 30, 2009 home invasion and cold blooded murder of both Raul Junior Flores and Brisenia Flores, 9. Forde along with Jason Bush, a white supremacist and Albert Gaxiola are charged with first-degree murder and are facing the death penalty, if found guilty.
The only survivor was Gina Gonzalez, the mother of Brisenia. Forde, Bush and Gaxiola invaded the Flores home in Arivaca, Arizona and pretended to be law enforcement agents looking for fugitives. But Assistant Pima County District Attorney Kelly Johnson argued that Forde and her accomplices went to Flores home looking for drugs and money to help finance her anti-immigrant Minuteman border security operation. Flores was shot at least three times and Brisenia was shot twice in the head after witnessing her father's murder. Gonzalez was shot twice, but managed to survive by acting that she was dead.
She told the jury, that one of the men had shot her daughter after he assured Brisenia, she wouldn't get shot. She identified Gaxiola as an accomplice who had previously been caught by her husband Flores for trying to hide Marijuana in their property.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik described Forde as a "psychopath."
Bush's trial is set for March and Gaxiola's trial is scheduled for June.

Chicago, Illinois - New allegations that Advocate Christ Medical Center (ACMC) in Oak Lawn and AeroCare in Illinios had conspired to provide false information to the Mexican government in order to acquire documents to illegally deport quadriplegic patient Quelino Jimenez Ojeda, 23, in December. The allegations were raised by several members of the Mexican community in Chicago who did not want to be identified after attempts failed to get information about Ojedas abruptly departure from ACMC. They say Advocate Christ Medical Center Spokesperson Kelly Jo Golson has failed to provide any information citing privacy policy about who authorized Ojedas private corporate deportation to Mexico and who provided the legal Mexican government documents needed to transport Ojeda by AeroCare into Mexico. Neither, Advocate Christ Medical Center or AeroCare, the private company contracted by the hospital to transport Ojeda via airplane from Chicago to Oaxaca, Mexico have cooperated with a group of community activists and members from LULAC questioning the deportation.
Ojeda who has a young daughter remains at the Tuxtepec Maria Lombardo Hospital in Oaxaca and his mother has to pay for the medicine, according to friends. The Mexican government is trying to get funding for his care.
Ojeda's Chicago Attorney James Geraghty admitted that he wasn't informed that his client was being discharged and transported to Mexico. Garaghty was expected to file a lawsuit against ACMC in behave of Ojeda, but last week was replaced by another attorney on Ojedas family request, according to Garaghty's secretary in Chicago.
Hospital officials had claimed that Ojeda's mother had authorized the discharged and transport of Ojeda to Mexico. It was later learned, Ojeda's mother never authorized his discharge or move. ACMC is having difficulty trying to track down who actually talked to Ojedas family for authorization.
Officials at the Mexican Consulate in Chicago have confirmed that ACMC or AeroCare never officially consulted the Consulate on Ojeda's move. The ACMC would had to provide documents Ojeda was from Mexico and had agreed to go back to Mexico, which officials at the Consulate admitted ACMC provided none and didn't notified them.
If officials at the Consulate in Chicago are saying they didn't provide the legal documents and paper work to allow Ojeda to return to Mexico, then who did? The Secretary of Foreign Exterior Relations (SRE) in Mexico is investigating, if any Mexican laws were broken by Mexican Consulate workers in the U.S. or Mexico in providing unauthorized documents to ACMC and AeroCare.
Jesus Vargas, a community activist from Chicago had petition the SRE in Mexico to investigate the government entity or Mexican Consulate that provided the documents needed for Ojeda to be allowed into Mexico. Patricia Espinosa Calletano from the SRE has confirmed, the SRE has launch an investigation into the Ojeda case to find out who authorized the documents that allowed Advocate Hospital and AeroCare to transport Ojeda to Oaxaca.
So far, no U.S. federal or state investigation has been petitioned or launched to see, if ACMC and AeroCare violated any federal laws and Ojeda's rights as a disabled person.
On December 21, the executive ACMC board decided to forcibily remove Ojeda from hospital care after five months of treatment for a spinal cord injury. Ojeda was taken out of the hospital by AeroCare personnel hired by ACMC and put Ojeda on a plane to Mexico, so ACMC could finally stop paying for his medical treatment. Ojeda became a quadriplegic as a result of a work related injury in Chicago.
He lived in Atlanta Georgia and is originally from Oaxaca, Mexico. In August, Ojeda had been working for an Atlanta based roofing company in the Chicago area when he was injured. He apparently fell to the ground from a ladder located on the fourth floor damaging his spinal cord when he cracked his neck on the fall and became a quadriplegic requiring the use of an artificial respirator to keep him alive.
In a press release issued in December by a group that exposed and protested ACMC's decision to repatriate (deport) Ojeda, Horacio Esparza Executive Director of Progress Center For Independent Living, which advocates for people with disabilities stated, ”Christ Hospital repatriated this patient back to rural Mexico where he will be unable to receive proper medical care for his condition. The hospital acted with out any humanity and violated all medical ethics to save lives.” Esparza is legally blind.
Jesus Vargas of the March 10th Coalition said, ”We wil pray for the respect and dignity of are immigrant brothers that suffer accidents that leave them crippled for life.”
Marlene Cruz a 20 year old Hispanic American whose family helped with the care of Quelino stated, “I use to think that Christ hospital was a good place-- but now after what they have done to Quelino-- I feel outraged that this hospital would do something to a person just for not having papers.”
Julie Contreras, LULAC National Immigrant Affairs Commission stated, ”While the President, Senate and Congress of this nation allow the immigration laws to remain broken—human beings who come to this country to work hard for a better life become disposable waste for Corporations like Advocate Health & Hospitals.”
U.S. hospitals who receive Medicare reimbursements must provide emergency care to a patient until they're stabilized and a plan for discharge is filed, under federal law.

Washington D.C. (HNNUSA) - On Tuesday, President Barack H. Obama during his remarks to the nation in the State of the Union address included a point about education and undocumented immigrants. Obama said, "Today, there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not American citizens. Some are the children of undocumented workers, who had nothing to do with the actions of their parents. They grew up as Americans and pledge allegiance to our flag, and yet they live every day with the threat of deportation. Others come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities. But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us. It makes no sense.
I strongly believe that we should take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration. And I am prepared to work with Republicans and Democrats to protect our borders, enforce our laws and address the millions of undocumented workers who are now living in the shadows. I know that debate will be difficult. I know it will take time. But tonight, let’s agree to make that effort. And let’s stop expelling talented, responsible young people who could be staffing our research labs or starting a new business, who could be further enriching this nation."

Immigration & Winning the Future

In his State of the Union address, President Obama laid out his vision for winning ou future. Part of accomplishing this important goal means fixing our nation’s broken immigration system. The President again reiterated his deep commitment to addressing this issue because it’s critical to strengthening our global competitivenes and boosting our economy. Last July, the President outlined his vision for commonsense, comprehensive immigration reform grounded in the principles of responsibility and accountability.

Continue to make border security the responsibility and priority of the federal government

Hold accountable businesses that break the law by exploiting undocumented workers

Make those living in the United States illegally take responsibility for their actions and

Over the last two years, the President has taken his responsibility to enforce our immigration laws and secure our borders very seriously. This Administration dedicated unprecedented resources to secure our borders, implemented smarter, more strategic interior and worksite enforcement policies, and improved our legal immigration system.
In FY 2010 the Administration increased the number of convicted criminals removed from our country by more than 23,000, which represents more than 70 percent increase from the previous Administration.
Additionally, we have more than doubled the number of worksite enforcement investigations conducted in FY 2010 as compared to FY 2008. These investigations have led to millions of dollars of fines levied against employers who have violated immigration laws. We have also improved our legal immigration system by reducing backlogs of immigration applications and devoting critical funding to promote innovative citizenship preparation and integration programs in communities throughout the country.
In his State of the Union address, the President called on Republicans and Democrats to issues confronting our nation.
He acknowledged that the debate will not be easy but the American people expect their leaders to come together to tackle the important issues confronting our nation. Winning the future and building a competitive America demands an immigration system that works.
We need comprehensive immigration reform that respects our nation’s laws while continuing our rich tradition as a nation of immigrants and that strengthens our effort to secure our borders while allowing immigrants to contribute fully to our country and our economy. In the coming weeks, that’s the consensus the President and his Administration will seek to build.

For President Barack H. Obama's complete speech on Tuesday during the State of the Union address go to link at: http://bit.ly/hRc7bN

Supreme court remanded case to lower court to correct error and illegal adoption of undocumented mother's child by U.S. couple.

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 27, 2011

Carthage, Missouri - On Tuesday, the Missouri State Supreme Court ruled that the lower court erred and illegally allowed a U.S. couple to adopt a child taken away from an undocumented woman from Guatemala. Encarnación Bail Romero, 35, had her 6-month-old child taken away and put into adoption after she was arrested during a raid at a poultry processing plant in 2007. She was working at George's Inc. when she was taken into custody along with 136 undocumented workers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Romero was detained and charged for identity theft and returning to the U.S. after she had been deported. She served two years in prison.
The Missouri Supreme Court decided that "The trial court plainly erred by entering judgment on the adoption petition and terminating (the) mother's parental rights without complying with the investigation and reporting requirements... The trial court's judgment terminating (the) mother's parental rights, allowing the adoption to proceed without (the) mother's consent to the adoption, and granting of the adoption, although supported by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence on the record, is reversed. The cause is remanded for a new trial in which (the) adoptive parents and (the) mother will have the opportunity to present evidence on all claims in all counts of the petition that pertain to (the) mother," wrote Judge Patricia Breckenridge for the court's decision.
Judge Micheal Wolff who ruled with the seven judges to reverse the lower court adoption decision to end Romero's parental rights wrote, that there was no evidence Romero neglected her child before he was adopted. Wolff agreed that Romero's child should be returned to her immediately.
Carlos who is Romero's child or Jamison as named by the adoption parents Seth and Melinda Moser, continues to live with them. They had appealed the case in the state Supreme Court after Romero had won the case when a judge ruled in 2010 that the Mosers adoption of Carlos was invalid.
The judge ruled, that Jasper County Judge David C. Dally didn't have legal authority to end the parental rights of Romero and to give her son Carlos to the Mosers in 2008, Southern District Court of Appeals ruled.
In 2008, Jasper County Judge Dally ended Romero's parental rights for neglect and abandonment and failed to follow legal procedures in adoption proceedings. Romero never consented or allowed for her son to be put up for adoption by Jennifer and Oswaldo Velasco who were taking care of him at the time, while she was serving time for being in the country illegally. Romero had requested for Carlos to be put in a foster home until she would be released, but Judge Dally denied Romero's request and allowed the Mosers to illegally adopt Carlos.
ICE has stayed Romero's deportation until February 2012, so she can continue to fight for the return of her child, according to her Attorney Omar Riojas from Seattle.
Romero who lives in Carthage, Missouri hasn't seen her son Carlos, now 4-years-old since 2007. She has a 13-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter in Guatemala. Romero hopes to get time to visit her child within days for the first time.
She is confident that Carlos will be returned to her.
Other immigration cases where children were taken away from undocumented mothers. In Nebraska, Maria Luz Cute of Guatemala was awarded parential rights of her U.S. born daughter Angelica and son Daniel after they were taken away and put in a foster home, when she was arrested on April 2005 for lying to an officer. A neighbor called police when it was notice her daughter was sick and she wasn't taken for medical treatment. When police investigated, she told police she was the baby sitter for fear of being deported. She was arrested and later deported. In 2008 Cute lost her parential rights, but appealed. The Nebraska Supreme Court reversed the decision to take her children.
There are countless cases where state judges decide undocumented parents are unsuitable to care for their children due to there situations.
Parents enter the U.S. illegally to seek a better future for their families and children. It seems, state judges take advantage of the undocumented status and makes it easier for U.S. couples to adopt U.S. born children taken away from their undocumented parents.

Milwaukee, WI - On Wednesday, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Richard S. Sankovitz sentenced Robert Anthony Malczewski, 35, to two years in prison and more than two years probation for shooting at Red Box movie rental customers. He was ordered to pay restitution totaling $800 to a female victim. Malczewski was convicted of firing a BB rifle at Hispanics while they rented movies from an outdoor machine at Walgreens, 2625 W. National Ave.
He was charged in September with disorderly conduct, use of a dangerous weapon, 2nd-degree reckless endangering safety, including a hate crime enhancer. Malczewski made a plea deal and pleaded guilty to two counts including a felony. In the plea agreement, the state dismissed the hate crime penalty enhancer on January 13.
The criminal complaint states, that Malczewski on July 25, shot a woman in the neck with a BB rifle. The woman and her boyfriend were renting a movie from the outdoor machine when they came under fire by Malczewski. Both are Latinos and Malczewski is White, according to the criminal complaint.
Police spotted Malczewski shooting a weapon from a second floor window in an apartment adjacent to Walgreens. When police arrested Malczewski, he told the officers that he was shooting at Mexicans.
Customers initially complained of being shot with some kind of weapon to the Walgreens manager on August 8, who then alerted police.

Zeta alleged leader was in charged of the drug trade and smuggling routes in Oaxaca, Chiapas and Veracruz.

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 26, 2011

Mexico D.F. - The Mexican Attorney General's Office (PGR) and the Federal Police claimed that Flavio Méndez Santiago, 35, aka, "El Amarillo" captured on January 17, was involved in several kidnappings of immigrants from South and Central America. Some of those immigrants have disappeared without a trace after a ransom was collected from family members. Santiago was taken into custody in the municipality of Villa de Etla by Federal Police.
He is accused of multiple homicides in the region, participated in the escape of 21 prison inmates in Apatzingán, Michoacan in 2004. Santiago coordinated the human trafficking and smuggling of South and Central Americans into the U.S.
Santiago is considered one of the co-founders of the Zetas and worked along Oziel Cárdenas Guillén, the former leader of the Golf Cartel. Guillén is serving at least 25 years in a federal prison in the U.S.
Santiago began with Los Zetas in 1993, when Arturo Guzmán, aka, "El Z1" hired him to help initiate the operations of the newly created Los Zetas.
The Mexican government has offered $15 million pesos ($1,200,000 U.S.) for information leading to Santiago's arrest and conviction, according to Ramón Eduardo Pequeño, Chief Investigator for the Anti-drug Federal Police Unit in Mexico. So far, Pequeño said, at least 20 drug lords have been detained, including those killed while in the commission to serve arrest warrants.
In 2009, the PGR published a wanted poster of the 37 most wanted criminals and drug lords wanted by the Mexican government and 20 of those have been either captured or reported killed.

Phoenix, Arizona (HNNUSA) - On Tuesday, in a press release by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona reported that grand juries have returned multi-count indictments in five cases against 34 defendants accused of assisting Mexican drug trafficking organizations with illegally trafficking firearms from the United States to Mexico.
The release said that multi-agency law enforcement task force agency rounded up and arrested 20 defendants named in the 53-count Avila indictment, which was unsealed on Tuesday. More than 100 officers from the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) were involved in the early morning operation that executed the warrants against the suspects.
The Avila indictment alleges that from approximately September 2009 to December of 2010, the defendants conspired to purchase hundreds of firearms, including AK-47s, to be illegally exported to Mexico. Defendants, none of whom are licensed firearms dealers, acted as “straw purchasers” by falsely declaring that they were buying the weapons for themselves. AK-47s are considered the “weapon of choice” for Mexican drug trafficking organizations.
In parallel cases, another 14 people have been charged with gun-trafficking crimes in the District of Arizona under a series of grand jury indictments that have been recently handed down or unsealed. Defendants in those cases are pending trial.
The indictment states, that at least 700 weapons including assaults rifles and pistols were bought by the suspects and 560 weapons were recovered. Two thirds (372 guns) of the guns were confiscated in Arizona and a third (195 guns) were recovered in various states in Mexico and traced back to where they were purchased in Arizona.
Mexican states and total weapons recovered were, Guerrero 13, Michoacan 1, Jalisco 6, Nayarit 1, Durango 4, Sinaloa 9, Chihuahua 12, Sonora 71, Baja California 74 and Tamaulipas 4.
Most of the guns were purchased from the Lone Wolf Trading Co. in Glendale. One of the suspects, Uriel Patino purchased 230 weapons from the Lone Wolf Trading Co. and nine other guns from another gun shop. Jaime Avila Jr. was named in the indictment as the alleged leader of the organized group of "straw purchasers."
The owners of the Lone Wolf Trading Co. have not been charged, according to the indictments and feds.
Firearms traffickers often use “straw purchasers” to buy guns from licensed dealers. It is illegal for a purchaser to falsely declare they are buying firearms for themselves when in fact they are obtaining them for someone else.
“Our office is committed to stopping the illegal flow of guns into Mexico,” said Dennis K. Burke, U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona. “The massive size of this operation sadly exemplifies the magnitude of the problem - Mexican Drug Lords go shopping for war weapons in Arizona.”
“These indictments are important steps in the Justice Department’s effort to curb gun trafficking along the Southwest Border,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division. “The Criminal Division is working hard with its partners in the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and colleagues in Mexico to find and prosecute those who seek to transport weapons llegally across our borders.”
"This investigation is further proof of the relentless efforts by Mexican drug cartels, especially the Sinaloa Cartel, to illegally acquire large quantities of firearms in Arizona and elsewhere in the U.S. for use in the ongoing Mexican drug war," said Bill Newell, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Phoenix Field Division. This investigation is also further proof that the 'straw purchase' of firearms continues to be a significant problem and that those individuals that knowingly falsify ATF firearms forms in order to supply Mexican drug cartels with firearms have as much blood on their hands as the criminals that use them."
An "indictment indicates that seven individuals allegedly spent approximately $104,251 in cash at various Phoenix area firearms dealers to acquire 140 firearms," said IRS Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Gabriel Grcham.
The OCDETF agencies involved in the joint operation included the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Department of Agriculture and the Phoenix Police Department.
The Avila indictment alleges one count of Conspiracy, one count of Dealing in Firearms without a License, one count of Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana, two counts of Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana, one count of Conspiracy to Possess a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Offense, 35 counts of Making a False Statement in Connection with the Acquisition of Firearms, one count of Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering and 11 counts of Money Laundering.
The Flores indictment alleges one count of conspiracy and 17 counts of making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm. This indictment includes 8 individuals that made multiple “straw purchases.”
The Broome indictment alleges one count of conspiracy and 13 counts of making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm. This indictment includes four defendants that were involved in multiple “straw purchases" involving approximately 58 firearms.
The Aguilar indictment alleges one count of an individual making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.
The Abarca indictment alleges six counts of making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm. The indictment alleges the defendant was involved in multiple “straw purchases” involving approximately 13 firearms of which six were AK-47 type weapons.
The suspects are facing between 5 years to 20 years in a federal prison and fines up to $250,000, if convicted.
These cases are being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for Arizona and by Trial Attorney Laura Gwinn of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division's Gang Unit, according to the DEA press release.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacan, Mexico - On Tuesday, the Michoacan State Attorney General's Office (PGR) confirmed that the narco messages found on Monday posted in several townships in Michoacan announcing that the Michoacan Family Cartel has stopped all operations in the state are authentic. The messages were discovered by local municipal law enforcement officers and were reported to the PGR and the Secretary for Public Safety in the region.
The narco message said that the Familia Michoacana has been dissolved, effective immediately. It also, adviced President Felipe Calderon to investigate his own Cabinet, especially the head of the Secretary for Public Safety Department (SSP) Genaro García Luna, who they alleged is working with Los Zetas.
Authorities in other townships came upon flyers left by alleged members of the Familia Michoacana saying that they had stopped their operations completely, but would support any other group that would rise up against Luna from the SSP.
The downfall of the Michoacan Family Cartel came shortly after its leader was killed on December 9th in a gun battle with the Mexican military and Federal Police in Apatzingán, Morelia, Michoacan. Nazario Moreno González, 40, aka, "El Chayo," "El Doctor," or "El Loco," known as the number one leader for La Familia Michoacana had been killed during a two day gun battle with Mexican authorities. González was wanted for drug trafficking, kidnapping, and murder in Michoacan. A $2 million dollar reward had been offered by the Mexican government for any information leading to González arrest.
Since then, the military and federal agencies had maintained operations in Michoacan combating the Familia Michoacana Cartel by cutting off supplies and their financial support. Most of the members in key positions deserted for lack of payment and leadership, according to intelligence reports by the Mexican government.
The end of the Familia Michoacana marks another victory for President Calderon's campaign to defeat the major drug cartels in Mexico.
Alejandro Poiré, Mexico's Federal Public Security Spokesperson in a press conference on Tuesday said, the federal government military forces will continue to search for members of the Familia Michoacana wanted for federal crimes, drug trafficking, smuggling, kidnappings and homicides. They will face justice to the fullest extend and the Mexican government will not negiotiate a truth with cartel members or criminal organizations, Poiré reaffirmed. Despite, La Familia Michoacana's public announcement it has seize to exist.
When the Mexican military forces leave Michoacan, the state will most likely be taken over by rival cartels or by the Cartel de Sinaloa headed by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzman Loera who is benefiting from Calderon's quest to shut down El Chapo's competition, according to messages left by other cartels throughout Mexico.
In other news, on Monday the Mexican Secretary for National Defense Mexican (Sedena) reported that the Zeta Commander known as Lino had been killed around 2:05 p.m., including two other members of the Zetas. Lino and the Zetas confronted Military police in a gun battle at the municipality of Escobedo in the state of Nuevo Leon. Lino was the principal leader of Los Zetas in Nuevo Leon.

Milwaukee - On Monday, Christopher "Chris" Joseph Nelson, 58, of New Holstein was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with one felony count involving use of a computer to facilitate sex from a child. Nelson was identified as the New Holstein Schools District Administrator who was stopped by Milwaukee police in a traffic violation last Wednesday in the 3600 block of N. 8th St while using a computer. He was trying to make contact with a 15-year-old boy who he contacted in Craigslist through the men seeking men section.
In this case, the 15-year-old boy turned out to be a Milwaukee police officer posing as a child in Craigslist.
Nelson has been suspended by the New Holstein School Board with pay until the outcome to case. An interim administrator will be select by the Board. Nelson has been working in the educational school system for 33 years. He was hired in 2009, after a background check cleared him.
Milwaukee County Court Commissoner Grace Flynn handed Nelson a $20,000 cash bail. He was declared indigent and a public defender will be provided. Nelson is expected back in court for a preliminary hearing on January 31.
The New Holstein Police Department, the Calumet County Sheriff's Department and Calumet County District Attorney's Office initiated an investigation as well. They are investigating Nelson's prior activities while he worked as an school district administrator. So far, Nelson has not been connected to any child sexual assault in New Holstein.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

(L-R) Manuel "Manny" Perez, Secretary of the Department of Workforce Development, Governor Scott Walker and H. Nelson Goodson. Goodson a foremost respected immigration rights and reform journalist told Governor Walker, that he could become a successful governor in Wisconsin, if he would stay away from supporting a similar Arizona SB 1070 anti-immigrant law. Will Governor Walker listen? Photo by Gilberto Gonzalez

Governor Scott Walker (R) participates in award presentations at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Wisconsin.

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 23, 2010

Milwaukee - On Saturday, Governor Scott Walker attended the 21st. Annual Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin (HCCW) banquet at Potawatomi Casino Expo Center and told the banquet attendees that Wisconsin was opened of business in both Spanish and English. Walker said, he is working to bring more than 250,000 jobs into the state and had appointed Manuel "Manny" Perez as the new Secretary of the Department and Workforce Development to work with him in increasing jobs. He recognized the efforts by Maria Monreal-Cameron, the HCCW President and CEO for supporting job and small business growth in the predominately South side.
Walker did not mention or none of the other speakers brought up the current agreement between Wisconsin 72 County Sheriff Departments and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Secure Communities program which shares arrest data and fingerprinting of undocumented immigrants that are processed for minor violations and other crimes. Nor did anyone focus on the proposed similar Arizona SB 1070 anti-immigrant law making its way to the legislature and Governor Walker's promised to sign it into law. The anti-immigrant law being proposed by Representative Donald Pridemore (R) and the Secure Communites program will have a major effect with Hispanic business growth and the community at large because it creates division, hatred and could lead into racial profiling targeting Hispanics.
Governor Walker managed to stay through the duration of the banquet. Walker for the first time handed out HCCW awards to the 2010 Hispanic Buisnesses, Acevedo PC Services LLC, owner Enrique Acevedo and HUSCO International Inc., Agustin "Gus" Ramirez, Chairman and CEO. The 2010 Corporation Award went to Walgreen Company, the 2010 Bravo Award went to Robert A. Wild SJ, President Marquette University and the 2010 CW18/My24 Mi Comunidad was awarded to Virginia Zerpa-Uniona, Milwaukee Latino Health Coalition.
The HCCW Philip Arreola Scholarship Program has given out about $500,000 in scholarships to students, said Jill Geisler, from the Poynter Institute during the event.
Other speakers included, Milwaukee Mayor John Barrett who talked about jobs and praised the Latino Milwaukee Police Officers for keeping the city safe and reducing crime. Congresswoman Gwendolyn Moore spoke about creating manufacturing jobs and bringing the community and businesses together inorder to achieve job creation. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm spoke about crime fighting and reducing crime in the county.
State Representative JoCasta Zamarripa from the 8th Assembly District spoke about small business growth and jobs creation as the rest of the guest speakers. Zamarripa became the first Latina woman elected to the district.

HCCW paid a special tribute to the women and men in blue, including Hispanic Milwaukee Police Officers for their valor and heroism who were injured in the line of duty. The following Latino officers were recognized for injuries acquired while in the line of duty or have served above and beyond the call of duty. Each officer received a recognition award by the HCCW. They were Officers, Rodolfo Alvarado, Jose Lopez, Alex Arce, Vidal Colon, Jeremy Gonzalez, David Martinez, and Detective Gilbert Carrasco and Sergeant Gregory Flores. The following police officers were recognized for their valor and recent military combat duty, Officers Jose R. Rivera, Juan Lopez, Paul Cervera, Anthony Rivera, Hector Claudio and Danilo Cardenas.
Milwaukee Police Chief Edward A. Flynn was absent from the banquet due to a prior commitment, but designated Deputy Inspector Ramon Galaviz to represent the department.
Former Milwaukee Police Chief Philip Arreola praised and honored the officers for their commitment in serving and protecting the community. He also talked about the need to provide educational opportunities to Latino students otherwise not available to them. Arreola became the first Hispanic Milwaukee Police Chief when he was appointed in 1989 and later resigned in 1996 to work for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Today in the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD), the highest Hispanic ranking officer is Assistant Chief James Harpole, next in line is Deputy Inspector Ramon Galaviz, and Captain Kurt R. Liebold is the only Latino ranking captain in the department. At least four Lieutenants were named as ranking officers, they are Ruben Burgos, Alfonso Morales, Alexander Ramirez and David Salazar.
There are only 14 Latino Sergeants, including three women, Lisa M. Gagliano, Vickie Gagliano and Elizabeth I. Ibarra, 17 Detectives, and three Latino Identification Technicians, which two are Latinas, Yvette P. Benitez and Sylvia M. Castro.
There are about 146 Hispanic officers in the department, including 24 Latinas, and at least 37 ranking and officers, including two Latinas serving in the military.
The high ranking Latino officer positions are disproportionate compared to more than 2,000 sworn police officers, including high ranking in the entire department, also more than 700 non-sworn personnel, according to the MPD statistics.
Brief history, in the early 1970's only one Latino Police Officer was in the Milwaukee Police Department. The officer was Procopio Sandoval who retired as a Detective in 1993. The height requirement of 5' 7" (est. 1885) and 5' 9" for hiring a police officer under police Chief Harold A. Breier kept many Hispanics from being appointed as police officers by the Fire and Police Commission.
Members of the Latino community led by Jesus Salas, Marla O. Anderson and others in the early 1970's protested the height requirement in front of Chief Breier's office claiming it was discriminatory. The Fire and Police Commission height requirement kept most Hispanics from joining the police and fire department, which Salas and Anderson claimed it discriminated Latinos because of their height. The Hispanic community was being defranchised and unable to have members from the community appointed to the department in order to serve their community, according to the protesters.
After several protests, the Commission lowered the height requirement, thus paving the way for Hispanics to join both the Milwaukee Fire and Police Departments.
Statistics: The City of Milwaukee has a population of 605,013, with more than 100,000 Hispanics residing within the city limits. They are 299,035 Latinos living statewide in Wisconsin, according to U.S. Census 2009 report. An increase of 100,000 Hispanics within the last decade.
A city economic study reported that the South side households in the predominately Latino community located inside Postal Zip Code 53204 in Milwaukee spend more than $91 million annually in retail goods according to the 2006 Department of City Development statistics. In one day, they spent approximately $249,315.06. The biggest tax-generating base for the city comes solely from the South side.
In Milwaukee, over 850 Hispanic owned businesses generate more than $225 million in annual sales. It is abundantly clear that the immigration of Hispanics and undocumented immigrants to Southeastern Wisconsin is tied to a large degree to the available resources that Hispanics have in the area.
In Wisconsin, over 3,000 Hispanic owned businesses generate more than $800 million in annual sales, creation of jobs and available employment resulting in population growth as well as business growth. The Hispanic population increased by more than 4%, greater than the national Hispanic growth rate, and more than 271,000 Hispanics lived in Wisconsin in 2007. The population of Hispanics has grown by 40% since 2000, according to the U.S. Census report.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Christopher "Chris" Nelson
District Administrator of New Holstein School District

Photo: New Holstein School District

Both Calumet County Sheriff's Department and Calumet District Attorney's office initiated an investigation as well.

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 21, 2011

Milwaukee - The Milwaukee Police Department confirmed that Christopher "Chris" Nelson, 58, had been arrested on Wednesday after 3:00 p.m. on alleged charges he solicited a child for a sex act on the Internet. He was stopped at the 3600 block of N. 8th St. on a traffic violation that involved using a computer while driving. Nelson thought he was communicating with a 15-year-old boy by computer, but turned out to be a Milwaukee police officer, according to Anne Schwartz, Spokesperson for the Milwaukee Police Department, News WFRV TV 5 reported.
Milwaukee police are pressing for the Milwaukee District Attorney's Office to file charges for using a computer to facilitate a child for a sex act, according to Schwartz.
He tried to set up a meeting with the child during his visit to Milwaukee. Nelson, was identified as the District Administrator (Superintendent) of the New Holstein School District in Calumet County. He was in Milwaukee taking part in the annual Wisconsin Association of School Board's Convention. The conference began on Thursday and ends Saturday at the Milwaukee downtown Frontier Airlines Center.
On Thursday, News WFRV TV 5 reported that police in New Holstein went to Nelson's office in the school district with a warrant searching for evidence. School officials say police confiscated Nelson's computer and other items related to the case.
Nelson has been relieved of his duties and placed on administrative leave of absence pending a school board hearing to replace him. An interim District Administrator will be assigned to take over Nelson's job until the outcome of the case is resolved.
On Friday, the New Holstein Police Department in a press release confirmed that the Calumet County Sheriff's Department and District Attorney's office also initiated a joint investigation into Nelson's activities leading up to setting up an encounter with a child for sex.

Sister fails to show up for trial and pleads for leniency in the United Kingdom Manchester court.

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 21, 2011

Longsight, Manchester, U.K. - The brother of an actress in the Harry Potter movie saga has been sentenced to six months in jail after pleading gulity of beating his sister Afshan Azad, 21. Afshan, who appeared in four of the Potter's movies plays the role of Padma Patil in the saga. She was beaten by her brother Ashraf Azad, 28, on May 21, 2010 after he suspected that she was talking to her Hindu boyfriend.
Her father Abdul Azad, 54, was also charged in the incident and has since made a plea deal and was fined and must stay out of trouble for 12 months, according to court records.
Ashraf pleaded guilty to assaulting Afshan, a lesser charge in a plea deal after Afshan failed to testify or appear in court. In the plea agreement, charges of making threats to kill Afshan were dismissed against her brother and father.
Ashraf admitted to punching her, to almost strangling her and had dragged his sister around the a room for dating a non Muslim, according to the criminal complaint. His sister told police that Ashraf had threaten to kill her and her father threaten to take her to Bangladesh for an arranged marriage, but she managed to escape through a window from the family residence at Longsight, Manchester.
She pleaded for leniency for her brother, but Manchester Crown Court Judge Rodger Thomas gave Ashraf six months in jail for the three hour beating his sister endured.
The Penarth Times in the U.K. reported that Judge Thomas during the sentencing told Ashraf, "This persistent attack was accompanied by serious and very hurtful abuse and threats. It must have been a miserable and frightening experience for your sister which, she suggested, lasted for about three hours or so... The background to this offence lies in the concern that you, and perhaps other family members, had about Afshan's relationship with a young man who was not of the Islamic faith...
This is a sentence that is designed to punish you for what you did and also to send out a clear message to others that domestic violence involving circumstances such as have arisen here cannot be tolerated."
The court also heard that both Afshan parents, father Abdul and mother Nilofar Azad were involved and had branded her a "slag" and a "prostitute" and had said, "Marry a Muslim or you die," according to the Penarth Times. Such threats in some cases turn into Honour killings accepted by backward traditional beliefs, which violate the equal rights of women to make their own decisions in choosing a boyfriend or husband. The honour killings are condemn and penalized by civilized judicial courts throughout the world, except in remote areas in countries where Islamic beliefs prevail. The lack of justice and prosecution of honour killings by Islamic governments have led to thousands of Muslim women to be killed by family members or spouses. Honour killings have been on the rise in Europe and the U.S.
Since the beating ordeal, Afshan has moved to London and continues to date her Hindu boyfriend.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Milwaukee - On Thursday, Joel Lee Hoffmann, 32, was found guilty on five counts, including for first-degree sexual assault, kidnapping while armed, burglary and two counts of second-degree sexual assault in connection with the February 26, 2010 sexual assault of a 21-year-old student in the 3000 block of N. Maryland Ave. near the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus.
Hoffmann is also facing trial on charges for 2 counts of second-degree sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl at the 2300 block of S. 15th St. on March 2009, and two counts for stalking and enticing a 14-year-old girl in the South side between August and September 2009, according to the criminal complaint.
He was convicted on Dec. 7, 1990 for 3rd-degree sexual assault and was registered as a sex offender until Oct. 18, 2018, according to the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry.
Hoffmann faces more than 70 years in prison. He remains in custody of the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department on a $750,000 cash bail. Hoffmann is expected to appear in court for sentencing on April 5, 2011 for counts 1-5.

¡Adelante! First TV program to air historical event commemorating the 1970 UWM Takeover of Chapman Hall by the Hispanic community.

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 20, 2011

Milwaukee - On Tuesday, the ¡Adelante! MPTV TV 10-36 show hosted by Patricia Gomez became the first actual program to air a segment of the 40th Anniversary and Commemoration of the the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) takeover of Chapman Hall by the Hispanic community in 1970 to gain access to higher education. Gomez and her TV crew beat any other main stream news media TV channel throughout the Milwaukee area in covering the historical event. ¡Adelante! shows the banquet at the UWM Ballroom and the vintage news footage of the actual takeover of Chapman Hall and UWM on August 27, 1970.
The Hispanic community and higher educational activists marched, fought, struggled and took over UWM for higher education access. Their endeavers succeeded to over turn the discriminatory UWM policy that kept Latinos and minorities from enrolling at the urban university.
The ¡Adelante! show interviews actual participants and instrumental leaders of the 1970 UWM takeover, Jesus Salas and Ernesto Chacon. Both Salas and Chacon headed the steering committee for the 40th Anniversary and Commemorative Committee established by the Roberto Hernandez Center at UWM (RHC).
Members of the committee included, Carmen C. Cabrera, Gloria Gonzalez, Fela Salinas, Rose Landero-Ferrar, Graciela de la Cruz, Leticia Ledesma-Keltz, Rita Renteria Valenzuela, Dr. Enrique Figueroa, director of the Roberto Hernandez Center UWM formerly the SSOI, Lupe Martinez, Jose Ruano, Oscar Tovar, Salvador Sanchez, and H. Nelson Goodson.
The interview also shows Marla J. Possell, who spoke about her mother. Possell is the proud daughter of the late Marla O. Anderson, an instrumental leader of the UWM Takeover as well. Anderson's decision to join Salas and Chacon in 1970 led to the actiive participation of hundreds of families to back, join and march in support of the UWM takeover to gain access to higher education for Latinos and their children.
Anderson originally from Camargo, Tamaulipas, Mexico is well known for her leadership and instrumental role in the August 27, 1970 University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM) takeover of Chapman Hall, where she along with four men, Jesus Salas, Dante Navarro Gregorio "Goyo" Rivera and Jose Luis Huerta-Sanchez were arrested in a peaceful protest. They were protesting UWM's discriminatory policy that prevented Latinos from enrolling.
In 1970, only 14 Hispanic students were enrolled compared to 25,000 White students and there were no Latino faculty at UWM. Anderson's role helped open the doors of education for thousands of Latinos in the state of Wisconsin UW-System. Their success in 1970 helped create the Spanish Speaking Outreach Institute (SSOI) at UWM which focus on recruitement, advicing and retention of Hispanic students. The SSOI was later renamed in 1996 the Roberto Hernandez Center and since 1970 thousands of Hispanics have graduated.
Anderson enrolled at UWM and later graduated from the School of Education with a Bachelor of Science degree in May 1978, while raising six children. Today about 1,400 Hispanic students are enrolled per semester and at least 30 Latino faculty work at UWM.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Second U.S. state to consider approving such anti-immgrant bill deemed harsher than Arizona's law

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 19, 2011

Jackson, Mississippi - On Tuesday, the Mississippi (MS) state senate passed on a vote of 34-15 a their own SB 2179, which is similar to Arizona's version of SB 1070 an anti-immigrant law. The MS law will allow police to question someone during after a traffic stop violation or while investigating other violations of state and local ordinances.
The main author, Senator Joey Fillingane (R-Sumrall) said officers can only inquire about the legal status of a person only in the course of enforcing other laws as "secondary status." Fillingane told the Clarion-Ledger in an interview that, “We did not want anyone to go out and start picking on or racial profiling people.”
MS becomes the second state to pass such an illegal law and most likely will face a challenge and a federal lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice as Arizona did.
Under the MS law, officers can arrest without warrant Hispanics considered illegal in the U.S. and makes it a state crime not to carry alien registration legal status documents. The SB 2170 also, makes it illegal to stop and pick up suspected undocumented workers at stops, and to conceal, transport and habor illegal aliens.
The bill goes before the Mississippi House and is expected to be voted out of committee for further debate by state representatives. Governor Haley Barbour (R) has acknowledged the economic contributions that undocumented immigrants have made to the state. He did not say whether he would sign it into law if it passed both legislative chambers.
In other news, Florida State Senator Mike Bennett (R Bradenton) is backing off from supporting his own similar Arizona SB 1070 law, now he says it would hurt state economy. Last week, former Florida Governor Jed Bush who co-chaired the Hispanic Leadership conference in a Republican gathering told attendees that the GOP should begin to find ways to tap into the Hispanic community support. He admitted that anti-immigrant rhetoric and laws would not gain support for the GOP.
Other state legislators in Florida are backing away from a similar Arizona SB 1070 law as well, citing it would hurt the economy, tourism, construction and undocumented workers are an asset to Florida's agriculture economy and growth. Even, Governor Rick Scott admits that if E-Verify is used by farmers to verify the legal status of farmworkers, their work force will fall and crops would spoil. Farmers won't be likely to be replaced undocumented workers with unemployed Americans willing to do the harsh work they are not accustomed to do.

More than one thousand special task force agents from throughout Latin and Central America, Europe, Mexico and the U.S. was created to capture El Chapo.

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 19, 2011

Jalisco, Mexico - On Tuesday, one of the most internationally wanted narco kingpins from Mexico Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, 54, celebrated his 10th Anniversary of his gran escape from the Puente Grande maximum prison in Jalisco. Guzmán Loera managed to hid inside a laundry truck and managed to escape without being detected by prison guards who by the most part were involved in the escape.
Guzmán Loera was captured in 1993 and convicted on both drug and homicide charges in Mexico. He escaped for Puente Grande in 2001.
He has been sighted in Honduras, and is believed to be hiding in the remote Triángulo Dorado valley that extends into three Mexican states of Durango, Sinaloa and Chihuahua. He has been reported in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas and in the state of Colima as well in Mexico.
A $5 million dollar reward has been offered for Guzmán Loera by the U.S. for any information leading to his arrest and conviction.
The prison warden and numerous prison guards were implicated in his escape, which cost Guzmán Loera a hefty price to buy them off. Where ever Guzmán Loera is hiding and enjoying his life today, he deserves credit for eluding capture and for providing tons of writing materials such as articles for the mainstream media, bloggers and keeping multiple governments, including Mexico on his tail to regain his capture.
Guzmán Loera is alleged to have ordered and engaged in multiple brutal homicides of counterparts and innocent people, according to the Mexican Attorney General's Office (PGR).
Guzmán Loera was even featured in Forbes Magazine (3/11/2009) as one of the wealthiest man in the World worth more than $1.0 billion. In 2008, Guzmán Loera leading the Sinaloa Cartel and working with Colombian drug smuggling criminal organizations managed to laundered a combine wealth between $18 - 39 billion from major cocaine proceeds generated from wholesale shipments into the U.S., according to Forbes.
Today in Mexico, Guzmán Loera is considered as one of the few remaining drug lords that have eluded capture and possible death for resisting arrest by the Mexican military. The Sinaloa Cartel is steadily gaining control of major parts of the drug trafficking and smuggling routes heading into the U.S. due to the ongoing fueding between Los Zetas, Gulf Cartel, drug cartels and other major drug criminal organizations.
More than 30,000 victims have died related to the Mexican drug cartel wars have been reported by the PGR.
Guzmán Loera is alleged to be operating his Cocaine smuggling operations in Colombia, Honduras, Panamá, Japan, France, Spain, Germany and Italy, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Phoenix, Arizona - On Tuesday morning, Pedro Gutierrez, 22, an aspiring U.S. Marine was granted deferred action for 30-days, according to his Immigration Attorney Maurice "Mo" Goldman. He was facing deportation and supporters had gathered in an effort to sway Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to stay his scheduled deportation to Mexico. He was scheduled to be deported from the U.S. on Tuesday. The U.S. has been the only home that he has ever known since, he was first brought to the U.S. at age six by his grandmother who died when he was 16. His parents were addicted to substance abuse and left him in the care of his grandmother. His grandfather took care of him after his grandmother died. The grandfather later disappeared and Gutierrez was left to fend for himself at age 17, until he graduated.
Gutierrez says that he lived with friends after his grandfather disappeared and never heard from him again. He also says, that he has no family to go back too in Mexico.
He was stopped for a traffic violation in Arizona, spent one month in jail and then was reported to ICE after it was discovered he was in the country illegally. Last Friday, the Arizona Dream Act coalition announced during a press conference that they were seeking a stay (deferred action) for Gutierrez. On Sunday, they held a vigil for him, which led to the 30-day stay for Gutierrez.
Gutierrez had tried to join the Marines, but was rejected because of his undocumented status. He had hoped to join the Marines, if the DREAM Act would have passed. The act failed to pass in December, thus preventing Gutierrez from fullfilling his dream.

Republican state legislator to introduce bill to revoke almost 83,000 New Mexico driver licenses issued to undocumented immigrants by 2012.

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 18, 2011

Santa Fe, New Mexico - On Monday, UPI reported that Governor Susana Martínez, 51, (R) has made her first step for "Bold Change" in New Mexico. She is heading the political movement to repeal the 2003 state law that allows undocumented immigrants the right to apply for a driver's license with two ID's like a Mexican Matricula Consular, birth certificate from a foreign country or a marriage license from the U.S.
Martínez became the first Hispanic woman to be elected as governor in U.S. history and will be the first to be considered as anti-immigrant for the GOP in the country. She would rather be known for what she can accomplish as governor, rather than just being a governor of Hispanic descent, according to a prior Fox News Latino interview.
Scott Darnell, Martínez' Director of Communications confirmed to UPI, that Governor Martínez wants to end the issuance of driver licenses to illegals and is pushing for the repeal of the 2003 driver's license law, which permits undocumented immigrants to get a valid license. Martinez would like the state to issue driving permits instead. The permits could not be used as official ID's.
UPI quoted Darnell as saying, "Governor Martínez has two goals on this issue. First, she wants to stop the practice of issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, and second, she supports revoking the licenses of those illegal immigrants who have already received them."
On Tuesday, the legislative session for 2011 begins and State Representative William "Bill" R. Rehm (R-Albuquerque) is planning to introduce a bill to end the issuance of licenses to illegals, would allow them five months to turn in licenses for permits and by 2012 all licenses issued will be revoked. Almost 83,000 undocumented immigrants with valid licenses will be affected, if approved by both Houses of the legislature and signed into law by Martínez.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Florida state legislators backing off from supporting similar Arizona anti-immigrant law

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 17, 2011

Chicago, Illinois - Last week Thursday, the Chicago City Council voted unanimously to approve a symbolic resolution for the federal government to halt mass deportations. Since President Barack H. Obama's election, more than several thousand of undocumented immigrants have been deported yearly from the City of Chicago.
The resolution says, family members of U.S. Citizens who are undocumented should not be deported and students who would have qualified under the stalled DREAM Act should also not be deported.
Chicago houses a major government deportation center run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which deports undocument immigrants from the tri-state area including Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.
Worth noting, the Mexican Counsul General Manuel Rodriguez Arriaga in Chicago has yet to publically oppose the massive deportations by ICE. Members and numerous organizations, including the Mexican Civic Society of Illinois in Chicago from the Mexican community have staged numerous protests against Arriaga in front of the Ashland Street Consulate for his inability to work, support or stand-by with the community on issues affecting Mexican nationals.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has named Consul Eduardo Arnal Palomera from Denver, Colorado to take over the Chicago troubled Mexican Consulate. Arriaga was also named the Mexican Embassador to Peru. Both Palomera and Arriaga would have to be approved by the Mexican Congress.
In other news, Florida State Senator Mike Bennett (R-Bradenton) is backing off from supporting his own similar Arizona SB 1070 law, now he says it would hurt state economy. Last week, former Florida Governor Jed Bush who co-chaired the Hispanic Leadership conference in a Republican gathering told attendees that the GOP should begin to find ways to tap into the Hispanic community support. He admitted that anti-immigrant rhetoric and laws would not gain support for the GOP.
Other state legislators in Florida are backing away from a similar Arizona SB 1070 law as well citing it would hurt the economy, tourism, construction and undocumented workers are an asset to Florida's agriculture economy and growth. Even, Governor Rick Scott admits that if E-Verify is used by farmers to verify the legal status of farmworkers, their work force will fall and crops would spoil. Farmers won't be likely to be replaced undocumented workers with unemployed Americans willing to do the harsh work they are not accustomed to do.

About Me

"Words conveyed by wisdom and truth influence inevitable change, Las palabras que contienen sabiduria y verdad influyen inevitablemente al cambio", H. Nelson Goodson said.
Goodson is well known in the local organizing community network. Nationally, Goodson is one of the foremost respected immigration rights and reform journalist.
He is also one of America's foremost Latino civil libertarian.
The Badger Blogger 2008, Patrick wrote: Mr. H. Nelson Goodson, "You have covered things that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper won't and you cover it in a way they fear." Posted on Badger Blogger on August 17th, 2007 at 6:39 p.m.
Goodson was instrumental in helping to coordinate the national Immigration movement early in 2006, which drew millions of supporters for immigration rights and reform. Goodson further encouraged numerous members of the Latino entertainment world to endorse and support immigration reform throughout the nation in 2006, published in "El Conquistador Newspaper" issue on November 21, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
Currently, Goodson has more than 32 years experience in news investigative reporting. (2015)

Immigration March 2007

Goodson marched with immigrants calling for a just comprehensive immigration reform, which would create a path for legalization for more than 13 million undocumented immigrants and to keep families together.